RIHANNA: I hate going to hotels when I'm on tour. I like to stay on the bus. I can sleep, I can shower, I can just pull up right to the venue everyday. I work out. I have a trainer. So, she trains me wherever, whenever. Touring messes with my metabolism, so I have to get tight.

ESQ: What do you eat on tour?

RIHANNA: I'm very stubborn when it comes to food. I don't like to try new things. When I came to America, there were so many different cultures and tastes. I haven't acquired a taste for a lot of things. Like, calamari? Jay-Z had to make me eat it. We have this thing called Taste Test Tuesdays or New Flavor Fridays or Substitute Saturdays.

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Russell James

ESQ: What happens in your dressing room before a show?

RIHANNA: I eat lozenges, steam my voice, do my makeup. I Skype my vocal coach and we sit there at the makeup table and do warm-ups for about a half-hour. Then, Jen, my personal assistant slash bartender, brings me a shot that she dilutes with a little something so it's not so harsh, like orange juice or soda water and lime.

ESQ: Why do you have the shot?

RIHANNA: I have to have it. I take it very seriously, so there is a level of anxiety, always. I overthink everything when it comes to my job. The drink calms my nerves. I sip it while I watch the opening act from my dressing room. Sometimes I go out into the audience. I put on a really big hoodie and sneak out there.

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Russell James

ESQ: Does anyone ever recognize you out in the audience?

RIHANNA: Sometimes, but I'm too close for them to freak out. If they touch me, somebody's going to tackle them. Last time I went out there I threw a bra on stage once.

ESQ: That you were wearing?

RIHANNA: Hell, no. Are you crazy? We found the girl with the biggest ass and a girl with the biggest breasts in the whole tour and we took their panties and their bra to the stage and threw them out there.

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Russell James

ESQ: When you came out of the dressing room, you're wearing the outfit. It's an impressive outfit. What do you call that?

RIHANNA: Like, a two-piece. It's Swarovski.

ESQ: Crystals?

RIHANNA: Swarovski sent us like thousands of crystals, so the artist Tom Binns started putting them together in shapes and painted them. Because they were all shiny.

ESQ: Interesting technique, painting crystals.

RIHANNA: He's known for that.

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Russell James

ESQ: There was a big group prayer right before you went on. And then a chant.

RIHANNA: "Where we at, where we at, where we at!" I need to hear the name of the place super loud just before I got out there so I don't screw it up onstage.

ESQ: What happens right before you go on?

RIHANNA: I say "House" and the lights go off. My head is down the entire time. I'm hearing the music and I know I only have like twelve seconds left to get into the cage, drink my water, finish the liquor, check my mic. Then I have like three seconds where I get to pray, again, for myself, and for the audience. I always pray for the crowd.

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Russell James

RIHANNA: Anything you want to know about what happens onstage?

ESQ: When you pull the guy out of the audience to do the lapdance routine, do you know who it's going to be be?

RIHANNA: It's never pre-planned.

ESQ: Who's the best candidate?

RIHANNA: The way I pick the person is, whoever I feel doesn't take themselves too seriously, or who I think would be majorly embarrassed about it. Like these old men... it's hilarious. At first, it was just going to be girls. And then one night, I brought up a gay guy, and then I started bringing up straight guys. Then I started bringing up older straight men. Did you see the one who was getting way too comfortable?

ESQ: What city?

RIHANNA: I can't remember the city, but I remember what the guy looked like.

ESQ: What happened?

RIHANNA: He was just getting excited.

ESQ: Like he —

RIHANNA: We have pictures.

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Russell James

ESQ: What do you do right after you come off stage?

RIHANNA: My friends and I are screaming and jumping up and down running in the dressing room. Then I'm in fishnets and nothing else for like half an hour.

ESQ: After the show, the energy backstage is unbelievable.

RIHANNA: It has a lot to do with the audience. Their energy is undeniable. You get off stage, and it's like crying and laughing at the same time. It's hard to turn it off when I leave stage.

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Russell James

ESQ: When I was backstage at the Long Island show, I was trying to get in to say hello, but then I saw Heidi Klum standing outside your dressing room door with her kids. They looked like they were in line to see the President.

RIHANNA: Aww.

ESQ: Kanye was smiling and everybody was excited and everybody was shaking hands and patting each others' back. They might not have even been on stage, but they were a part of it. It was visceral.